Last month I visited Napa Valley and had the pleasure of visiting Yountville, St. Helena, and Napa. The region of Napa Valley is known for incredible wine, so it was no surprise that it had incredible art as well.

During my visit, I visited a few wineries and did a few wine-tastings all in two days. I learned that many of the vineyards in the area have art galleries associated with them. I'll write about the artistic things that I came across, however, my blog is by no means a comprehensive listing of all the artistic offerings of this incredible region in California.

I had an amazing time at Kelham Vineyards, where I was lucky to have an incredibly delicious, gourmet dinner. Kelham Vineyards also sells a number of prints by the French artist Gerard Purvis. The artsist is best known for creating original sculptures & prints made from wine bottle foils. To my knowledge, Gerard Purvis' work can only be found in the United States at Kelham Vineyards. For more information, please visit: KelhamVineyards.com and kelhamvineyards.com/Puvis.html.

The next day, the first stop was in St. Helena at the Alpha Omega Winery, which was one of my favorites: aowinery.com. At our next stop, I enjoyed a private luncheon in Yountville at Cliff Lede, which is where I came across some very cool art. For more information about Cliff Lede, please visit: cliffledevineyards.com. Outside of the private tasting room on a beautiful terrace were these two incredible sculptures. I only wish my photos were better to really capture these sculptures. I posted the photos here:

The private tasting room, called the White Room, named after the Beatles White album, also had some very cool art in it. The lunch for our private party was served directly in the Tank Room where we saw the innovative technology used in producing their delicious wine. Looking up toward the White Room, were some beautiful paintings, which I posted here below.

That evening, I dined in Napa and had the pleasure of strolling around the town and exploring a number of public art sculptures in town. Many of the sculptures were part of the Napa Art Walk. The Napa Art Walk is a bi-annual, rotating exhibition of juried sculpture created by artists from the Western United States. For more information, please visit: www.napaartwalk.org.

Detail of Bone Totem. The Mosaic reminded me of the mosaic illusion I create in my artwork.

Detail of Color Molecules

Based in Napa is the Art Association of Napa Valley, which is a private, nonprofit arts organization that enhances life for the Napa Valley by supporting arts and culture in the area. Their website includes an artist listing, newsletters and class and event listings. Located in Downtown Napa at 1307 First Street is an art gallery that features the work of members of the Art Association Napa Valley. For more information, please visit www.artnv.org.

Retro Woman, by Gordon Huether; Mixed Media.

The Immigrants, by Elizabeth S. Kadar, 1975; Tribute to the thousands of families who settled in Napa.

The Hispanic Heritage Mural created to honor and celebrate past and contemporary advocate artists who promote social, cultural, and economic advances in Napa.

Great Eye, by Peter Boiger, 1975.

Cat Washing, by Norma Anderson, 1975.

The Yountville Art Walk was one of the highlights of my trip to Napa Valley. Known for the finest food and wine in the country, Yountville is also known for art. The Napa Valley Museum is located in Yountville. For more information, visit www.napavalleymuseum.org.

Beautiful sculptures lined the streets of Yountville. I learned that in 2010, Gordon Huether partnered with Yountville Arts to establish the Yountville Art Walk. More information about Gordon Huether can be found on his website, www.gordonhuether.com. The sculptures are for sale, with a percentage of the proceeds going to Yountville Arts Fund to support their arts-related activities, programs, and events. Based on my observation, the sculptures ranged in price from $6,000 to $60,000! Yountville was a terrific place to explore and experience some great public art. Below are some photos of just a few of the sculptures I had the pleasure of seeing during my time in Yountville.

See this beautiful, bright yellow painted piano reminded me of the piano I painted as part of the Celebrity Series of Boston's Play Me I'm Yours StreetPianos Boston 2016 Public Art Installation. To learn more about the piano I painted, please click the link to visit: StreetPianos Boston City Hall Plaza 2016.

One of my other great discoveries was also in Yountville at the Yountville Community & Events Center. There was a special exhibit in the Gallery at the Yountville Community Center of the artist, June Altamura, who is based in Napa. I really liked the geometric feel of her abstract collage artwork as well as the vibrant and excellent color selections. I've included some photos here, but more information on June Altamura and her artwork can be found at: www.JuneAltamura.com.

There is so much to see and do in the Napa Valley Region. I barely scratched the surface of the art offerings the region has to experience, but I hope that this blog article inspires you to visit the area and explore on your own! I know that I'm already excited about the possibility of returning to the Napa Valley and exploring more the art world has to offer!

I traveled to Worcester, MA as to deliver a painting of mine to the Davis Art Gallery. I have an upcoming show at the Davis Art Gallery that I'm a part of called, "Nonobjective NOW: New England Artists Explore Abstraction. I'm very excited to be included in this juried exhibit that features interpretations of nonobjective subject matter in a variety of 2D and 3D media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics, mixed media, photography, fiber arts, and design. The Opening Reception will be on the 22nd of September from 5-7 pm and the exhibit runs through January 5, 2018. The painting that I will exhibit is "Mosaic Color Grid: The Dance, Structure & Movement and is pictured here:

It was such a beautiful day that I thought I'd take a stroll around the area, known as the Grid District. The Davis Gallery is located within the Printers Building in the Grid District on Portland St. Just outside the doorway were a few incredible pieces of street art. The orange and blue one below is by an artist from Nepal who brings Sanskrit and graffiti art together. Check out Instagram @imagine876. Across the street were two massive murals, show in the photo to the right and also separately below. And down the street was this fun mural of a happy-face balloon!

Many of these murals were created over the past few years as part of Pow! Wow!, which is a cool mural festival and celebration of art and culture. The festival also takes place in cities and countries such as Hawaii, Taiwan, Long Beach, Israel, Singapore, Jamaica, Washington D.C., Guam, New Zealand, Germany, and more. The POW WOW! Worcester mural festival, which was just in August 2017, has added dozens of murals in Worcester in less than 10 days while also hosting a number of arts and community-centered events and programs.​ Although I missed taking part of the festivities, I'm glad that I got to see a few of the incredible artworks that came out of this incredible festival. ​ Visit www.powwowworcester.com for more information.